Gluten Free Pasta - Version 1

Cooking/baking gluten free has taught me two very important life lessons:  patience and persistence.  In my quest to make delicious homemade gluten free pasta, I found two types of recipes.  The first type, which is what you'll find below, uses xanthan gum.  The second version uses psyllium husk powder, but I'll get to that another day.

My first attempt at gluten free pasta went... okay.  The dough dried out really fast and just sort of crumbled.  But it tasted amazing!  It even smelled like normal pasta dough!  Most of the pictures below are from the first attempt.  My chef-in-the-making little brother came over to help me on my first attempt at GF pasta.  He found this process insanely frustrating.  But I'd say we learned a very important lesson (or two) that day.



Lesson 1:  When the recipe says "divide your dough into four equal balls", this doesn't mean you should roll out all four balls at the same time.  Instead, divide the dough, and set three balls aside.  Concentrate on just ONE portion of the dough at a time.

Lesson 2:  This one I learned via my second attempt.  My wonderful husband brought home extra large eggs instead of large eggs, so I figured I'd try pasta with the extra large eggs and see what happened.  The difference is night and day.  If you don't have extra large eggs, add an extra yolk or two to your dough.

This recipe comes from SimplyGluten-Free.  I didn't make any modifications, other than stressing that you need VERY LARGE eggs.  Trust me, it makes a difference.

Gluten Free Pasta

Ingredients

• 1 cup superfine white rice flour
• 1/3 cup millet flour
• 2/3 cup tapioca starch
• 3 tablespoon potato starch (not potato flour)
• 1 tablespoon xanthan gum
• 1 teaspoon kosher or fine sea salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 extra large eggs
• 2 -4 tablespoons water

Directions

Place all the dry ingredients in the bowl and whisk to combine. Whisk the olive oil and eggs together in a spouted mixing cup or pitcher. While stirring with a fork, slowly add the liquid ingredients to the dry. Add water, 1 tablespoon at a time, just until it starts to form into a dough. It should be pliable and just a tiny bit sticky, not sticky enough to stick to your hands.

Scrape the dough onto a work surface and knead a few times to smooth it out. Divide into 4 equal portions and roll into balls.

Run the dough, 1 ball at a time, through a pasta roller until desired thickness is achieved or roll between two sheets of plastic wrap until very thin. The thinner the pasta is rolled, the more tender it will be. Keep the other balls covered with a damp towel to prevent drying out.

The dough ran through with really jagged edges.  Just fold the dough over and run it through again at the same setting until it smooths out.

When you run all of the dough through at once, you end up with way more sheets than you can handle without it drying out.  Lesson learned: one ball at a time!

This photo was from my second attempt, with the extra large eggs instead of the large eggs.  Don't they look... normal?!!!

I get so excited when I have fresh pasta, that all I want to eat it with is butter, salt and pepper.  But I bet it would be amazing with your favorite sauce too.  Tonight I'm trying out this dough recipe for butternut squash ravioli!

Taken from SimplyGluten-Free